Valence – He Tried to Kill Me With A Forklift

Complex melodies combined with exceedingly rigorous fretwork manifest into a track from New Rochelle progmasters Valence that features a title just as ridiculous as the music that follows it.

“He Tried to Kill Me With a Forklift.”

The single, released August 18 will take its true form Friday when Decibel magazine premieres the music video.

“Forklift” features chuggy yet harmonious overtones coupled with superb shredding, a slight nod to Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years,” and a thick rhythm section pulling it all together. While the track is a heavy six-minute instrumental, the constant changes and revolving door of time signatures keeps one embedded in its near-bloody purpose.

“This was actually one of the first songs we’ve written that’s not part of a larger piece of music (like a concept album), so the focus was definitely riffs and groove rather than any particular concept, unlike our previous releases,” says guitarist Michael Buonanno, who adds that that reason alone was why Valence felt “Forklift” was best served as a standalone.

Although a bunch of prog dudes never actually did get into a forklift fight in space as Valence’s Bandcamp page insinuates, the title actually references a running gag from the cult sci-fi meets Jim Henson-like verbal jousting show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

“It originally comes from the “Fugitive Alien” episode if you want to dig it up,” Buonanno said. “We wanted the title to fit the vibe of the song: kinda quirky and funny but also bad ass, and once that [Mystery Science Theater 3000] came up, we couldn’t name the song anything else.”

In addition to the mayhem and math-metal madness, Valence will also open for Scale the Summit and Angel Vivaldi on November 10 at the Kingsland in Brooklyn, NY. To help mitigate the buzz – and grow their fanbase, the four-piece is enlisting the help of Dewar PR.

“That show is going to be off the hook,” Buonanno said. “We were bugging out when we received the email.”